[hackinthebochs]

Such arrogance from someone who clearly has no understanding of what he critiques. I hate to add to the dogpile, but seriously take a step back and realize that maybe there's something you're missing rather than everyone else being fooled.

Your issue here seems to be "this doesn't answer the question I want therefore this is useless". This is just a lack of imagination on your part. Sure, he doesn't delve into the nature of what it means to exist, but "I think therefore I am" crosses a huge chasm in its own right. It establishes existence. One needs to do this before you can begin to discuss the nature of existence.

The "uselessness" of philosophy for most people, and I think this is where it fails for you, is that it provides far more questions than it provides answers. Philosophy doesn't package the world into a neat little box; it provides you with a framework to develop your own understanding of it. You still have to do much of the mental legwork yourself. Contrast this with science, where it does provide you with neat little bite-sized answers to satisfy ones superficial curiosity (E=mc^2? Cool!)

[Tichy]

I decide for myself what is useful for me and what is not, thank you very much.